Darkness Descends
by Painted Orchid
Summary: A girl running from a troubled past. An evil rising up in the shadows. A destiny that could doom, or save, the world An OC story that takes place primarily in Johto, independent of any real Pokemon cannon. Simply using the universe and its creatures as a playground for my story. Dark, mysterious, and the product of an incredibly weird dream that was just begging to become a story.


**Me: Hello! I'm Orchid the author of this fabulous awesome story!**

 **Lugia: (a small, dog sized Lugia flies in) you mean awful story**

 **Orchid: YOU are the star you realize?**

 **Lugia: I don't appear until like the 50** **th** **chapter!**

 **Orchid: Oh come on, it isn't that late.**

 **Lugia: OK, well until then it's horrible. Only when I appear does it become good.**

 **Orchid: Just wait until you see what kind of a role you play Lugia…**

 **Lugia: Uh oh. (hides under the desk)**

 **Orchid: Well, anyway, this is a fabulous awesome story about… hold on (puts earmuffs on Lugia and knocks him out with a chair) Sorry. He's one of the characters and can't know what's going on. It's a story about life, and death, love and hate, Pokemon and people, etc etc… just read the story.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. If I did, this disclaimer wouldn't be here now would it?**

 **This is sort of based off of Pokemon: Soul Silver, and sort of based off of a dream (actually, it might have been a nightmare, it was a while ago, and I forget.) Many of the characters are OC's, namely Tria, Darren, Roy, and Lisa. Ships are wildly random and capricious.**

 **A/N: This is NOT an exact replica of Heartgold/Soulsilver. My characters choose not to follow the traditional path. They will skip around a lot and take shortcuts not available in real (or virtual) life.**

 **Prologue** : _Mew cried silently as she drifted above the destroyed Earth. A flash of purple light in the distance revealed The Dark One's presence. The grey, dead world was flattened, burned, and empty. The dark grey, rocky soil sat stagnant, undisturbed. The winds had long since stopped, when Rayquaza was murdered. The murky black stream that flowed through the destroyed earth was all that remained of water. When Kyogre followed Rayquaza into the abyss of death, her watery realms either dried up or sank to join the miserable black slush that was the only movement in sight. A greyed-out Houndoom staggered into sight, and collapsed. Not far behind, a black and white shape rose to blot out the sun that shone ominously bright through the thin atmosphere remaining. Mew shifted into her Celebi form, and spun herself out of her empty time. The last thing she saw before the living world of fifty years ago was a huge shape fall in behind the Houndoom. Then the Houndoom's emaciated body was swallowed by a roar of purple light. The Dark One had arrived._

Tria opened her bedroom window silently and climbed onto the roof below it. A gust of wind blew her, and for a terrifying moment she nearly fell off the roof. Tria glanced at the darkened sky, and noted the black clouds. Even the pink sunset of early evening did nothing to reduce its ominous appearance on the opposite horizon.

"What a great omen for the start of my journey," Tria muttered as she leapt off the roof to land in the grassy bush on the ground. Tria hefted her pack higher onto her shoulder, and turned back for one last look at her home in the Kanto region. Today she was leaving for neighboring Johto to become a Pokémon trainer.

By the time the sun had set, the storm was picking up. Tria had long since left the electric-fence lined path that led her secluded neighborhood to the nearest city, Pewter, in hopes of finding, or at least seeing a Pokémon, but apparently they were all hiding from the fast approaching storm. Instead, she would trek through the woods until she reached Viridian. As Tria pulled out a compass and tried to figure out where she was, a huge raindrop fell on her head.

"Great, of course it starts to rain when I'm lost in a forest with nothing to protect myself," she snapped, as her compass snapped shut with as much force as her voice. A bolt of lightning lit up the suddenly dark sky, and a huge clap of thunder shook the ground. Tria screamed, and heard echoes of her cry of shock repeated, in different tones, by all the Pokémon that lived in the forest. The storm was powerful, almost unnatural, and sent shivers down her spine. Although that might have just been the electricity and pressure in the air. Another lightning strike hit a tree, only a few feet from where Tria was standing. She could feel the electricity lightly frizzle her nerves. She froze, terrified as she sank into a memory…

 _Aaaghh, pain, burning in every nerve. The shaky feeling working its way up her arms and through her body. The Pikachu that had shocked her cried out, obviously not having intended to hurt her. Tria dimly felt her parents pick her up, and then all was black. She awoke in a hospital room, feeling as though her body was on fire. She remembered the pain and weakness that followed for weeks afterward._

Tria snapped out of the memory from her childhood and ran. She fought back tears, and the brief moment of weakness that her paranoid parents had been right to lock her away in a secluded neighborhood far away from "dangerous Pokémon." Thinking of a warm, dry bed, and shelter from the storm, she fought the urge to turn around. She had dropped herself right back into that world they'd fought so hard to pull her from, and she was rapidly beginning to question her decision to run away. Tria ran now, in whichever direction- she wasn't actually sure anymore if it was away from home or towards it, or where home really was. The thunder occasionally startled her so much she stumbled, sensing more than seeing the lightning flashing in this wild storm all around her. In a blind panic, she lifted herself off the ground after tripping over a root and kept running. At least, until she hit a brick wall, literally.

"Owww," Tria muttered. But despite clutching her forehead and fighting back the dazzling pain, she couldn't help but be relieved by the welcome building. It was shelter. Without looking or caring at what it was, Tria ran around to the front of the building and darted inside. When she finally caught her breath and calmed down she noticed two things.

One, she was dripping wet.

Two, there were five people staring at her in shock and varying levels of pity and derision. An official-looking woman with pink tinged hair ran over, face full of concern. She looked to be about Tria's mother's age, and began asking the stunned Tria a deluge of questions. Tria was too stunned and winded, and maybe a little concussed from her introduction to the side of the building to respond immediately, instead taking in the rest of the building's inhabitants.

Two raven haired teens, who looked so similar they had to be either siblings or twins, a boy and girl lounged on a bench across the room from her. They looked about eighteen, a few years older than Tria's fifteen. Another boy, off by himself and on the opposite side of the room fromm the smirking twins, had blond hair and a blatant mixture of worry and curiosity on his face, with sparkling, deep blue eyes. Tria's eyes shifted slowly to the fifth person, feeling her head briefly spin as she turned her head. The older man was tall and muscular, reminding Tria of a police officer or something, and she stiffened. Would she be reported as missing yet? What if her parents had already put out an alert for her? He didn't seem to recognize her, or make any move towards her, simply looked curious and a little bit cautious of her appearance. He wasn't wearing a uniform or anything, so Tria figured she must be safe for now. Still, she had to get to Johto before they noticed she was gone. She wouldn't be free until she was a registered trainer in the other region and officially emancipated from her parents hold over her under Kanto's legal system. Tria turned back to the lady wearing the white apron in front of her, who was still speaking to her and looking increasingly worried. She didn't even know how long she'd been sitting here in silence, and she felt her cheeks flush.

"Are you okay?" the lady asked her, probably a repeated question. Tria nodded, and then winced. The woman's expression grew, if possible, more concerned. "What's your name? I'm Nurse Joy. I run the Pokémon Center."

"Um, I'm Tria," she said, then blurted out, "Wait this is a Pokémon Center?" The twins snickered and stepped closer.

"Oh really? I didn't know that," the boy said sarcastically to the girl. She laughed cruelly and played along.

"OMG, we can like heal Pokémon here," she said in an annoyingly high pitched voice. Tria ground her teeth in anger, but didn't respond. Nurse Joy, however, did.

"Excuse me you two, this young lady appears to have had a rough time getting here, and could very well have a head injury. You should be ashamed of yourselves!" The nurse then turned back to Tria and her voice softened, "Well, I'll heal your Pokémon for you, and you can spend the night here. I just need your trainer's license. I can look at that nasty bump on your head as well. We don't usually treat people too much here, but we have some basic first aid equipment. I'm assuming you got turned around in the storm and fell?" Tria nodded, and opened her mouth to interrupt, but Nurse Joy just gave her a warm smile, "We'll get you and your team fixed up. Very nasty storm out there tonight."

Tria ducked her head in embarrassment. "I, um, actually don't have any Pokémon miss, I mean nurse Joy. I was heading out to… meet up with someone that would help me get started as a trainer but I got a bit lost in the storm," she thought quickly, spinning a lie that she hoped wouldn't come back to bite her. The nurse's brow furrowed a little into a frown. Surely they wouldn't throw her back outside?

"Well, it's dangerous to travel through the forest out there without Pokemon even if there weren't a storm. Your friend really should have come to you. But it's alright, we do take civilian guests as well, although there's a fee associated with the rooms because we are supposed to save them for trainers. It's only 100 pokedollars a night though." Tria's heart sank, that was at least half of her savings. Would it be rude to ask if she could just sleep here in the waiting room?  
"Oh, I um… let me think about it," she said hesitantly. The twins burst into evil snickers again, and although she couldn't hear them, she knew they were focused on her. Tria felt like crying, the sheer idiocy of what she'd done crashing down on her. She'd left everything behind, her family, her house, and she was woefully unprepared for the journey she'd decided to undertake. She couldn't turn back now, but she wasn't sure if she could take much more of this knowing that she was faltering already. The other kid must have noticed when she ducked her head, hoping her brown hair would hide her red face, because he was suddenly beside her

"Hey, um, you can share my room if you don't have any money," he said tentatively, "It has a spare bed and everything. My name's Darren." Nurse Joy fixed him with a searching look, as if wary of letting her new charge spend the night with a stranger- she could't possibly be more wary than Tria herself was, but it's not like she had much choice. Tria nodded shyly.

"My name is Tria, that would be lovely, thank you. Is that all right?" she asked the nurse. Nurse Joy seemed to relent and nodded her head.

"Just let me know if your head feels any worse dear. You don't seem to show any signs of severe head trauma, just watch out for any lingering headaches or dizziness."

Tria smiled as much as she could, and mumbled thanks as Darren stood and she followed him to a side corridor that she hadn't noticed branching off of the main room she'd stumbled so ungracefully into just moments that felt like a lifetime before. The room had two beds, as promised, and she walked towards the farthest one, which appeared undisturbed, only pulling off her wet shoes, socks, and jacket before slipping into the bed. She pulled the covers over her head, hoping that Darren would leave her alone. She heard him settle into his own bed, and sighed with relief. In the silence and following the exhaustion of the overly exciting start to her journey, she could finally relax and sleep.

 _Dull grey was the color of the wasteland. Tria ran, terrified, from something pursuing her. She ran, on and on, but there was nothing to hide behind, nothing but emptiness behind, before, and beside her. A twisted screech from behind her escalated to a scream as huge splayed feet crashed into her back and flattened her against the ground. Tria screamed, knowing the end had come for her…_

Tria sat up, heart pounding. She looked around wildly, for a moment unsure of where she was. Then she saw Darren's sleeping form and remembered yesterday's events, her flight from home, the wicked storm, and finally winding up in a Pokemon Center sleeping in a shared room with a stranger. She calmed her racing heart, trying to forget her terrifying dream. She sat up, blinking at the sunlight peaking around the closed blinds. The storm was over then, and it was time for her to continue on. Because as much as her journey had started off poorly, she couldn't help the thrill of exhilaration she felt at all the forbidden things she'd already done since leaving. She was so, so free, and it was a heady rush that far outweighed the sore knot on her head and the still-damp hair from the rain. As she slid off the side of the bed and reached to grab her pack from where she had dropped it on the floor the night before, the springs in the mattress squeaked and she winced at the loud sound. Darren stirred and almost immediately sat up. He must be a light sleeper. And a morning person, she thought, at his sudden alertness and wide-open eyes.

"What are you doing?" Darren asked quietly. Tria paused and struggled to find the words, not really having another lie prepared to explain why she had woken him up and why she was leaving.

"I'm leaving. I just needed a place to stay for last night. Thanks though for your help," Tria said, trying to slip out the door before he could respond. Unfortunately, he leapt out of bed, grabbed his own stuff, and deftly blocked her path to the hallway.

"Where are you going?" Darren asked.

"Johto," Tria answered simply. He raised an eyebrow, and didn't move. Damn, this just kept getting worse.

"Why? Oh, and you realize you can't get there on your own," he said nonchalantly. Tria shrugged at his first question, and then realized the second half of what he'd said.

"What do you mean? Kanto and Johto are connected!" she said in surprise. Darren just shook his head.

"Yeah, by a channel. How do you expect to cross it? Swimming? That won't work. There are currents and plenty of wild Pokémon in the channel. You'd drown, quickly based on your clear lack of experienced journeying." Tria felt despair sweep over her at Darren's comment. Now what was she to do?

"Hey," Darren said as he laid his hand on her shoulder and turned her around to face him. She struggled to suck back the tears that were threatening to fall. Arceus, she didn't _cry_ like this, and twice in two days was too much. If he noticed, Darren said nothing, just continued, " I could take you over. I have a water Pokémon we could ride across the channel. I was planning to visit Johto anyway." Tria opened her mouth to say no, the fewer people who knew where she was going the better, but hesitated. She did have to get across the channel, and plus… she didn't really want to say goodbye to Darren just yet. He was the first person her age that she'd ever really spoken to outside of her small, all-female class at the private school in her enclosed neighborhood.

"Okay," she said, surprising herself, "but first I have to pick up some things from local shops, if you know of any." He looked at her, and she got the sense he was sizing her up. For what though, she was unsure. He nodded slowly, and stepped out of the way of the door. Puzzled, Tria tried not to think about his strange behavior as they left the Pokémon Center and stepped out into the small town illuminated by the end of the sunrise.

There were few buildings, but the one she thought must be the store stood conveniently right beside the Pokémon Center.

"Welcome to Viridian City's Pokémart," Darren said with an exaggerated bow as Tria stepped into the store. She laughed lightly at the pose, and her mood increased further when she realized how _long_ it had been since she'd felt content enough to laugh. Tria stepped curiously over to observe the shelves. A storekeeper stepped beside her.

"What do you need, young lady?" the young man said.

"Do you carry Pokéballs?" Tria shyly asked. The man looked a little confused, but simply nodded towards a shelf a few feet to the right of the entrance.

"Of course, they're only twenty Pokédollars each." Relieved at the low price, Tria counted out twenty of her precious funds and bought a Pokéball. Cradling her newest and most important possession in her hands, she walked out of the store, Darren close behind.

"Ok, so you have a Pokéball. Now can we head over to Johto?" Darren sighed, still looking at her oddly. She gave him a weak grin, hoping he wasn't suspicious enough to take her to the police or something, but he simply shrugged and continued walking, taking the lead. The pair headed west, passing the huge gates that marked the beginning of the path to the Pokémon League. Tria stared in wonder at them. She had never thought she'd actually get to see the famous gates.

"You haven't come to challenge the Pokémon League, have you?" said a cocky voice behind Tria. She turned, even though she already had a suspicion on who the rude voice could possibly belong to. Unsurprisingly; it was the black haired boy from the Pokémon Center. His sister was standing beside him.

"Back off, umm," Tria hesitated, unsure of what to call the unnamed punks, "jerks," she finished lamely. The boy smirked.

"I'm Roy, and your name is…" the boy trailed off and turned to his sister.

"It was something like a plant," she told him, "I'm Lisa," she said with a sarcastic smile.

"Oh yeah, that's right her name was… Tree!" Roy said mockingly. Tria fumed, her face turning red and her blood boiling. Darren just snorted and lay a hand on Tria's shoulder.

"I'm not challenging them, just passing through," he said flippantly as he turned himself and Tria away from the pair. Unable to let them leave without some sort of interjection, she struggled to free herself from his grip, and turned around to watch the sniggering duo.

"Tri-UH," she shouted over her shoulder. She pushed Darren's hands off her shoulders angrily and stormed ahead, fully aware that she had no clue where she was going. He ran to catch up with her.

"Hey, forget them. They're trainers, but complete idiots. I doubt they'll make it very far in their challenge. Besides, once we reach Johto we'll be rid of them," Darren said in an attempt to cool off Tria's bubbling rage at the reminders of how little she knew and the humiliation that seemed to be surrounding her. She just nodded tersely, and Darren was wise enough to let her calm down on her own as he took the lead and began walking once more.

Eventually they came to a broad span of water. Tria took in the blue stretching out to the horizon, far wider than she'd anticipated, and she realized just how lucky she was to find someone willing to take her across. There was no way she'd have made it otherwise. As she stared, wide-eyed, into the channel's blue depths, Darren released one of his Pokémon, an elegant white seal with flared fins and a horn on top. The Pokémon was huge, nearly six feet long and large enough for both of them to ride on its back. Tria gasped at the beauty of its thick snowy white coat. She immediately fell to her knees beside the water and stroked the creature's head as it perched on the edge off the shore. She was petting a real Pokémon! If only her parents could see her now.

"What is it?" Tria asked Darren, still petting the Pokémon. Darren looked surprised.

"Icicle? She's a Dewgong. You didn't know that?" Darren asked in surprise. Tria shook her head, embarrassed by how stupid she must sound. Darren looked at her with a piercing gaze and seemed to wait for some sort of response. Struggling to fight back her fear of revealing too much, she tried to stick to her hastily crafted story.

"My parents didn't like Pokémon at all. This is only the second Pokémon I've ever seen," Tria said shyly. Darren frowned at her. "Well shall we get going?" she said cheerfully. He shook his head, almost imperceptibly.

"Hold up here. Where are you really going, is there something up with your parents? What are you trying to do here?" Darren stepped in front of her, subtly blocking her way forwards and staring at her with an expression that threatened to peer through everything she'd tried to hide.

"I'm running away," she said at last, choosing her words carefully. But even as she said them, there was a cold kind of acceptance. Because that's really what she was doing, after all. Running. Leaving it all behind. Darren looked like he was going to ask for more detail, but instead simply shrugged and let it go. She was surprised- she thought he'd want to know more, but she wasn't going to turn down this second lucky break.

"Well, now we're ready. Climb on," he said gruffly. Tria watched him slip a leg over the Dewgong's back, and she carefully mimicked the motion to sit behind him. Tria searched for something to hold onto, and wound up with the only option that she had hoped to avoid. As if the whole situation wasn't awkward enough. As Icicle slipped into the water, Tria fell forward and nervously looped her arms around Darren's waist. She was far too nervous and flustered to say anything, and Darren had proven himself to be rather reserved overall, so they just sat silently as Icicle began to carry the pair across the channel.

As they traveled, Darren eventually began to speak, pointing out the wild Pokémon that drifted past them. Occasionally the slimy, many-armed Tentacool would drift to the surface, angry at having their water disturbed, only to be chased off by Icicle's size and rather menacing growls at them to drive them back to the depths. After what seemed like hours, but was likely less than an hour, the other shore came into view.

"Land up ahead!" Darren called back to her, and Tria instinctively tightened her arms around his waist in nervous excitement. Tria blushed and pulled back when Icicle stopped in the shallows, suddenly aware of how tight her grip had become.

"Th-thanks," she mumbled shyly. Darren grinned and recalled Icicle. They had just barely clambered out of the water when a young trainer, a girl with pigtails and a stupid white hat who looked to be a few years younger than them, ran out of the nearest house.

"Omigosh are you Pokémon Trainers from Kanto? Did you battle the Pokémon League?" the girl asked in total awe. Tria just stared in shock, leaving Darren to answer.

"Umm, no to the second one. But we are trainers and we did come from Kanto. My name is Darren, and my shy companion here is Tria," Darren said to the overexcited trainer. Tria gave a nervous smile as he continued, "how about you?"

"I'm Kris, and I'm just going to get my first Pokémon today, want to come with me?" the girl, apparently named Kris didn't wait for an answer, just ran off to the largest building in the small town. Darren looked hopelessly at Tria, who just shrugged. They followed Kris into the building, and despite Tria's growing irritation for the young girl, perhaps this would give her the opportunity to learn about the new region she would call _home_. It was a strange thought.

Inside the building, which appeared to be a research station of some sort, they met Professor Elm. Darren introduced them as Tria listened halfheartedly, staring in awe at the lab's resident Pokémon and the anatomy diagrams lining the walls, fascinated, while Kris bounced impatiently on the balls of her feet. At last he turned to the girl and told her to choose a Pokémon. Tria leaned forward curiously. There were three Pokéballs, each one with a delicately labeled nametag beside it, differentiating them as _Totodile, Chikorita,_ and _Cyndaquil_. Tria had no idea what any of those were. The girl, Kris immediately grabbed the one that said Cynadquil. She let it out and squealed in delight. Tria studied the small, round Pokémon with a huge nose. It was greenish blue on its back and tan underneath. And then there were the flames that shot up from its back as it squealed happily.

"So, what brings you here?" Professor Elm said. Tria turned around, seeing Darren standing beside the Professor where they had just been talking. Tria joined them, leaving Kris a few feet away to play with her new fire Pokémon.

"I've always wanted to see Johto, and Tria…" Darren trailed off. Tria was deeply aware that she hadn't even told him what she was really doing.

"Well, um, I wanted to start being a trainer in Johto," she said lamely. Truth was, even _she_ didn't know why she was here. She'd just felt she had to come. Professor Elm looked puzzled.

"Start? Aren't you already a trainer?" Elm said to her. Tria shook her head, embarrassed once again.

"No, I don't have a Pokémon yet," she said, and then as an afterthought, "or a license. I figured I could register here." She tried not to hope too much.

"Well you can choose one of the regular starter Pokémon then, I have two extras this year since the trainers who signed up moved to Hoenn last minute! And I can get you registered in a jiffy. You said you're from Kanto?" Elm asked, beaming. Tria smiled, suddenly nervous. What if her name was flagged as missing or something?

"Actually, I've been planning on applying for Johto citizenship and moving permanently here to pursue being a trainer… I can just register as a Johto trainer and transfer that way, correct?" she asked, heart pounding as she hoped she had understood the citizenship law amendment for trainers correctly. It wasn't a common way to immigrate, nor was it widely advertised, but she was pretty sure it was legal. She hoped.

"Of course, I'll just put you in as a Johto trainer. You'll be officially a citizen of Johto then," pausing, Elm looked down at her, "Are you sure about this? It can be downright impossible to switch your registration to another region or citizenship later. She agreed with an emphatic nod of the head, and immediately began writing out the information on a form, heart pounding. She couldn't believe this was finally happening. As she signed her name, her fingers trembled slightly at the weight of what she was doing. Then her fingers flew across the shape of the letters that formed her name and it was done. She was free. Once she had finished, Professor Elm took the paper and told her to select one of the starter Pokémon before her.

"Really?" she said, still disbelieving her excitement from her new life was genuine, and afraid she'd wake up for this all to be a dream.

"Of course, just pick one." Tria stepped over to the table once more, and reviewed the names again. Well, Totodile didn't even sound remotely interesting, and Chikorita was the only other choice. Tria picked up the Pokéball, tossed it in the air, and an adorable green, round Pokémon with tiny feet and a leaf growing from its head appeared in a burst of red light.

"Aww, it's adorable!" Tria said, "Can I name it?" Elm nodded. She paused; she didn't know if her Chikorita was male or female. Darren was watching her new Pokémon and he stepped over, clearly intrigued.

"I think it's a girl, see how the leaf has smooth edges, on a boy it would have ragged edges," Darren turned to the Professor to make sure he was right. Elm nodded.

"How did you know that?" Tria said, crouched down and stroking her Chikorita's head. Darren shrugged modestly.

"I've been studying Pokémon for most of my life," he said, as if that were totally normal. For all she knew, it was. She tried to bury the sudden pang of longing and the sense that she'd missed out on so much. She could catch up, she _had_ to. Tria turned back to her Chikorita.

"I'll name her Fleur, it means flower in French," Tria said happily. The Cyndaquil ran over and nudged Fleur, who blinked in surprise.

"My Cyndaquil is named Ash, because that's what'll be left of his enemies," Kris said. Tria looked up at Kris's face, surprised by the vicious streak buried beneath the bubbly exterior, and considered the girl in a new light. Maybe there was more to her than just airheaded giddiness. Then again, the girl was trying to hold back a grin.

"Gotcha! I'm just joking. But he is named Ash," Kris said, punching Tria on the shoulder. Tria gave a tight smile- honestly did this girl have no maturity? Tria stretched out a hand and tentatively stroked Fleur _her own Pokémon_ , and grinned as her fingers met fine fur. It was an experience she never, ever wanted to forget. As she did so, Kris, Darren, and Professor Elm exchanged goodbyes, with Tria chipping in last minute before scrambling to follow an eager Kris out of the lab an onto a forest path. Apparently she knew where she was going. At least, Darren and Tria _hoped_ she knew where she was going.

The tall grasses lining the path, according to Kris, contained wild Pokemon like a certain angry black-striped brown creature with a really long tail that Kris promptly caught. Tria didn't much mind. She wasn't really interested in catching everything she came across- just having Fleur and being free was enough for now. Darren was quiet, and she was struck by the thought that she didn't really know either of her companions. These were people she would need to depend on to get to the next town, and yet she couldn't really bring herself to talk as Kris prattled on about her dreams and hopes and all the Pokémon she would catch. Tria actually liked the girl less the more time she spent around her.

As the sun sank on the horizon more Pokémon began to come out, including a hooting brown owl Pokémon, which Kris also caught. Watching Darren praise Kris on her apparently _amazing_ capture, Tria couldn't help but grind her teeth. Fleur, whom she had kept out for company sensed Tria's frustration and gave a concerned _Chi?_

"It's okay Fleur. I'm just tired, I think," Tria said half-heartedly. When it got really dark, Tria seemed to be the only one who had the sense to stop and get some rest. Darren and Kris were comparing battle strategies, types of Pokémon, and all that other stuff Tria knew nothing about. She pulled some of the food she had out of her backpack. The only things she had were a few apples and a box of cereal. Great. She had only planned on feeding herself. She really hoped the brainless pair would have some food themselves.

Darren rummaged through his bag and produced basically the same supplies that Tria had. Kris pretty much only had Pokémon supplies. The stupid girl hadn't thought about the fact that _she_ needed food too. Darren divvied up the food, which Tria thought was unfair. Kris wasn't really contributing, so did she really deserve any of it? At that, she tried to tamp down her venomous thoughts, realizing that she _was_ tired and might be a bit harder than she needed on the obviously excited younger girl. They all let their Pokémon out, and Tria saw Darren's team of three Pokémon for the first time. Kris the wonder-girl didn't seem surprised, so Darren must have already told her _all_ about them. The first he let out was a bird Pokémon, who was large enough that it looked like it could be ridden on, had a red and orange crest on its head, followed by Icicle, who Tria had met already. The last Pokémon was a small, red dragon-like Pokémon with a flame burning on its tail. It was about half the size of Tria herself, but its huge claws and sharp teeth made her a little nervous.

Darren introduced them in turn. The first bird Pokémon was a Pidgeot named Flap, she waved at the Pokémon as he introduced Icicle to Kris, and then a Charmeleon named Char. Kris of course, fawned over the fire Pokémon, who had apparently been Darren's starter.

"OMG, we both got a fire type starter! Isn't that amazing," Kris said. Tria felt a muscle twitch in her jaw. Darren just shrugged and looked over at Tria. He gave her an apologetic look and she wondered if he could tell she was feeling left out. She fought the urge to grin at the jealous look on Kris's face at his shift in attention. Honestly, the girl was incredibly immature.

"Char is my closest friend, and he knows it," Darren said, partly to Tria and partly to his Charmeleon. Char nuzzled his trainer. Tria smiled, hoping to someday have as close a bond with Fleur, and nodded.

"Fleur will always be special to me as well, I mean, she's my first Pokémon," Tria said contemplatively as Fleur hopped into Tria's lap. She looked down at the small green Pokémon in surprise, and gave a soft smile. Darren nodded in agreement, but Kris frowned.

"Huh, well Ash is okay, but he's not really that strong. The best Pokémon are the strongest ones," Kris said with her nose in the air. Tria could tell she was looking disdainfully at her delicate Chikorita, and glared at Kris, and was surprised to see even Darren frowning at the younger girl.

"There's more important things than brute strength. Even if Char wasn't the strongest Pokémon ever, I would still love him. There are plenty of people who love Magikarp, and they can't even battle," Darren scolded Kris. Tria grinned, glad Darren was taking her side.

"But…" Kris trailed off, realizing the battle was already lost, and turning away to sulk. Darren just shrugged and turned to Tria.

"Maybe we should just get some rest for tonight," she suggested, ignoring the pouting face of Kris across their small camp. Darren just nodded, and his team curled up around him. Kris was watching him with a pained expression before shooting a glare at Tria, who just rolled her eyes. S _core 1 for Tria, 0 for Kris._

The next morning, Tria rose first. She'd had that dream again. But now, the sunrise was cheering and warm, and when Tria realized that one of their party was missing the sunlight seemed even brighter. It was already a great day- Kris had left, taking her things with her. At last she was rid of the irritating girl and she hadn't stolen any of their stuff.

"Where's Kris?" Darren said when he awoke and realized she was missing. Tria shrugged.

"I don't know. She wasn't here when I woke up," Tria said, surprised by the worried look on his face.

"Do you think she'll be okay on her own?" he asked. Tria suddenly realized that the younger girl would be alone, and felt a stab of guilt for not worrying about her earlier. "I'm sure she will. She seemed like she would prefer it anyway," Tria said, unsure if she was convincing him or herself. If nothing else the girl was a local who seemed to know her way quite well without their help. Darren just shrugged and gathered up his stuff, and after a pause, Tria followed.

"Oh well. How about we head to the nearest town and try to find a map?" he asked with a half smile. Tria felt some of the tension in her fade, if he thought the girl would be okay then it was probably fine. He was the more experienced of them in traveling after all, and in light of that she grinned, seeing an opportunity to tease him.

"So you mean you don't know where we're going? Wait, you admit there are some things you don't know about the world?" Tria said mockingly. Darren glanced over at her, trying to look exasperated but betrayed by the smile tugging at his lips. They were quieter as they left, nothing like the constant chatter provided by Kris yesterday, but the silence was a welcome chance for Tria to think over the insane last few hours of her life. Tria's attention wandered as she considered the strange tug she felt from deep within. She knew where she wanted to go. West. Not like she even knew what was over there, or which way was west. She just knew she had to head that way. It was so odd, she didn't even bother questioning it, and it's not like she had a better plan anyways.

Around midday, Tria and Darren stopped to eat in a clearing. Chikorita was nestled by her side, watching a green, banana shaped Pokémon hanging from a tree above them.

"What's that," Tria asked Darren, pointing. Darren snickered, but at Tria's embarrassed and hurt expression, he softened.

"A Metapod, it's the evolution of Caterpie, those little green worms we've been seeing everywhere. Metapods evolve into Butterfrees," Darren said to her.

He didn't even realize she only understood half that sentence, and Tria gave a weak smile before muttering, "You must think I'm stupid." Darren shook his head and smiled comfortingly at her.

"I'll start teaching you about Pokémon, how about that?" he suggested. She felt her heart leap. This was the opportunity she needed, to understand the new world she'd thrown herself in and figure out how to make a life for herself now that she had the option to do so. It was something she couldn't pass up, and she was aware how lucky she'd been to run into someone like Darren so soon after leaving her home.

"Sure, thanks! How about we start walking again? I can't wait until we get to town," Tria said, her tired feet forgotten in the face of her new hope. He grinned and nodded, but there was some other gleam in his eyes that made her pause and sent warning bells through Tria's mind.

"Someday you'll have to tell me about this crazy past of yours," Darren said offhandedly, turning around to scoop up his supplies. He didn't see her stiffen, or the look of fear that swept over her face, and she considered that maybe her last thoughts had been a bit premature.

 **Authors Note: Okay, so now you've met three characters… although Kris skipped out early. She's the female player of the games, just kind of tossed her in the mix here. I seriously hate that hat. Oh, and I lowered the price of pokeballs in the story, cuz honestly, who in their right mind would pay, like 300 pokedollars for a pokeball? The game is wacky with its pricing. Anyway, Tria and Darren are the main characters, though Kris will reappear later. Will do bios later.**


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